


Tales from the Good Ending AU

by HappyFunBallXD



Category: Marble Hornets
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Good Ending AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-17
Updated: 2019-03-16
Packaged: 2019-11-21 05:21:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,514
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18137900
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HappyFunBallXD/pseuds/HappyFunBallXD
Summary: Drabbles and such from an AU where Alex snapped out of it at the last minute, and Brian and Jay were saved. Now they stay at Tim's house and try to get back to normal, while TTA still messes with them.





	1. "Sorry isn't going to help when I kick your ass!"

**Author's Note:**

> A lot of these make more sense if you've seen the blog. [Which is here.](http://happyfunballxd.tumblr.com/tagged/good%20ending%20au) These are prompts from a collection of line suggestions, so I could get back in the habit of writing after three years.

They were in the office when they heard the crash. At the noise, Jay jumped, his pen drawing a sharp line across the notebook he was working in. He looked up at the closed door curiously. Beside him, Tim let out a sigh.

After a moment of silence from outside the room, the pair went back to work, decoding the next message from one of their anonymous watchers. Enough time had gone by without incident that it lulled them into a false sense of security. Just enough time for them to relax.

The panicked yelp from what sounded like the kitchen was enough to send Jay’s notebook to the floor. They both stared at the door again. A few thudding footsteps and the door popped open, Brian barely managing to shut it before lunging into the room, ducking under Tim’s desk.

“Uh…”

“What’d you do now?” Tim leaned to the side, staring down his friend.

Brian returned the look with his trademark charming grin, guaranteed to get him out of anything. “Just pretend I’m not here!”

Tim rolled his eyes, straightening back up. Brian picked up Jay’s notebook, handing it back to him before curling up into a ball next to Tim’s legs.

“Play dumb,” Tim told Jay, going back to his notes. These codes were getting harder each time…

A few moments later, the door slammed open once again, revealing a dripping wet Alex Kralie with a murderous fire in his eyes the pair hadn’t seen since they were being chased through the halls of an abandoned college.

“WHERE IS HE?!”

“Who?” Tim looked up boredly, pen tapping on the desk.

“Why are you all wet?” Jay asked, biting his lip against a laugh.

“Brian! The fucker sprayed me with the sink nozzle!” Alex voice was reaching higher decibels in anger.

“And you’re dripping on my floor,” Tim deadpanned, managing to look as unimpressed as ever.

“Which one’s Brian again?” Jay was suddenly so enraptured by his notebook, he couldn’t meet anyone’s eye.

Alex turned to glare at him. Tim sighed again.

“Too dumb…”

“Way too dumb,” Tim’s desk retorted. “Wait. Shit.”

“YOU FUCK!” Alex made a dive for the desk, just as Brian darted out from under it.

The blonde squirmed away, pushing at Tim’s legs and sending the office chair spinning with him on it. Alex reached out, grabbing for Brian’s leg, only to have his hand kicked by Tim as the chair went wild, falling back and sending Tim crashing to the floor. Jay watched on with wide eyes as Alex scrambled to his feet, climbing over Tim and his chair to chase after Brian, who made a beeline for the door.

“I said I was sorry!” Brian squeaked out.

He was out of the room in a flash, with Alex hot on his heels. “Sorry isn’t gonna help when I kick your ass!”

The commotion continued into the hallway, leaving the office quiet once again. Jay peered over the side of the desk, looking at Tim sprawled out in the toppled chair. “You were an accessory, Tim, you get punished just the same.”

Tim stared up at the ceiling. “Joke’s on both of them, I’m rigging that thing up to spray and putting them both on dish duty.”


	2. "Show me what's behind your back."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one has a lot to do with an incident that occurred at Christmas, [which you can see here!](http://happyfunballxd.tumblr.com/tagged/the%20christmas%20incident)

Brian sighed, fingers tightening around the ball of fabric in his grip. The bed shifted under him, cheap springs protesting even the slightest motion. The sun had gone down awhile ago, but he hadn't bothered to get up and turn on the lights, instead sitting in the dark and staring at the cloth in his hands. He knew they were right when the anonymous watchers warned him about keeping the mask. He knew it wouldn't do anyone any favors, that it would only cause more trouble. That's all it had ever done, caused trouble. The messed up headspace he'd been in when he put the thing on had done nothing but turn him against his friends, his friends against each other, and almost got them killed.

He and Tim had gotten rid of them. Threw them in a dumpster on the road home, after Alex and Brian were back in their right minds, and after getting Jay's gunshot wound and Brian's back as fixed as they were going to be. Before they all went to Tim's house, a bottle of pills split between the four of them to keep them safe. They stopped at a gas station at random, and while Jay took Alex into the shop for snacks, the other pair threw those masks in the dumpster.

And somehow they came back. On Christmas, of all days. The day Brian was looking forward to spending happy times with his friends again, enjoying making better memories than the ones they'd relied on cameras to remember of the past few years. Obviously someone had snatched them up from the dumpster behind them, but the thought was as unsettling as seeing the red and black eyes of those things staring up at them from deceptively cheerful tissue paper. Someone had been following them for that long, keeping track of them and keeping the masks until they thought it was the perfect moment to catch them off guard.

Why had they given them back? Was it just to mess with them? Mission fucking accomplished there. Did they expect Tim and Brian to use them again? Fat chance of that happening. Between the four of them, they had two prescriptions for the meds that kept those states from happening, more if they counted Jessica, who would help out if they happened to need a dose or two more than usual. They threw those masks away for a reason, and Brian had no intention of putting that bleached shirt on his face again. The thought alone was enough to send his pulse racing.

So then why was he sitting here with the thing in his hand? Christmas was months ago, and he hadn't seen Tim's mask since they opened their packages. Tim didn't talk about it, but he didn't have to. Brian knew how he felt about the whole thing, he was sure Tim had gotten rid of the thing immediately. So why couldn't Brian do the same? Why did he keep the damned thing in the pocket of every pair of pants he put on? Why did he take to wearing hoodies once again, just to have a pocket to keep the mask in? 

Well, he knew the answer to that one, at least. He needed it close by, to keep tabs on it. But he needed it to be out of sight of the others. Tim might understand, at least a little, since he had the same problem. Jay would forgive him because Jay forgave them all everything, even when he shouldn't have. 

But Alex.

Alex was unpredictable. Since his time under The Operator's control, seeing what his anger could do to any of them, they'd all tried their best to skirt around making him mad. Sure, they played pranks on each other, but that was a teasing sort of thing, something they all knew was for fun. And Alex played along, usually he wasn't ever really mad. 

It was Alex that Brian was afraid would find out about this. Alex that he worried about seeing the mask and losing it. Alex he was most afraid of souring what little remaining bit of friendship he had after all that had happened between them.

Alex that spoke up from the doorway Brian had his back to.

"What are you doing in here, Tim's been calling for you and it's getting really annoying..." 

Brian jumped at the other's voice, scrambling in a moment of blind panic to whirl around and face him, hiding the mask behind his back.

"Holy shit, dude, don't sneak up on me like that!"

Alex frowned. "I didn't even sneak, you've been spaced out and apparently sitting in the dark. What's going on?"

"Nothing! You just scared the crap outta me..." he mumbled. He braced his weight with one arm on the corner of the bed, leaning back, away from Alex and the light shining in from the doorway.

"You're being overdramatic," Alex rolled his eyes, stepping into the room proper. 

This made Brian lean back further. "That's something, coming from you..."

"Don't change the subject," hands on his hips, Alex's stern gaze leveled Brian still. "You can't pull that psychology stuff on me, what are you hiding?"

Out of room on the bed, Brian jumped up before he could fall off the edge, skirting around it and back against the wall beside the dresser, all without letting Alex catch sight of the mask. "Nothing you'd wanna see!" It technically wasn't a lie, Brian knew there was no good reason that Alex would want to see that thing again. 

Alex didn't leave well enough alone, stomping his way into the room closer to where Brian was backed against the wall. "That's not the point, we're not supposed to be keeping secrets from each other anymore, and you're acting really suspicious. What's behind your back, Brian?" The words, though spoken slowly and measured, were ground out through gritted teeth. This was why they tried not to upset him, and this was why Brian didn't want him to see.

But Alex was having none of it, and before Brian could even respond, the taller man reached out, one hand grabbing a fistful of Brian's shirt collar. The other wound around his side, trying to grab for whatever he had. Brian tried to squirm away, to duck to the side, anything to keep him from seeing the mask, but Alex had the advantage of those stupid long limbs of his. He snatched up the black fabric without too much fighting, his other hand holding Brian pinned back to the wall.

Alex looked confused for a few moments, before it sunk in exactly what he was looking at. He quickly dropped the makeshift mask like it had burned him, and Brian could feel the fist wrapped around his shirt start to tremble.

"Alex, I--"

"Why do you have this...?" Alex's voice was shaking almost as much as his hands, although if anything, the grip on his shirt tightened.

"I threw it out, I swear!" he blurted out in a panic, trying to diffuse the situation as quickly as possible. He hated the thought of any of his friends upset with him, but volatile Alex especially. "Someone sent them to us at Christmas, some kind of prank or something!"

"Them...?"

Shit. No sense in lying now, though he hadn't wanted to bring Tim into this. "Me and Tim. We threw them out, you know it, you were there! Someone had to take them after we left!"

Alex was quiet for a few moments. Long enough for Brian to start to hope his explanation had been enough. But when brown eyes met hazel he knew that wasn't the case.

"Does Tim still have his?"

Brian winced. "I don't think so, I just--"

The rest of his reply was cut off as Alex yanked at his shirt, pulling him off the wall just enough to slam him back against it. It wasn't enough to hurt, not really, but still enough to get a little puff of breath out of him. Brian was at a decent enough height that not many people could tower over him, but Alex loomed dangerously close, eyes narrowed.

"Then why do you still have it, Brian?"

Brian bit his lip, curling in on himself as much as Alex's grip would allow. But Alex wasn't taking silence as an answer, and moved to shake him again. Only this time, Brian grabbed his wrist, trying to yank him off. The resulting struggle sent them both to the floor, socked feet sliding on the floorboards. Brian was still pressed against the wall, but now instead of using his height to his advantage, Alex towered over him on his knees, still gripping his collar.

"Just answer me!"

"I just...if I keep it, then I know where it is! I left it behind and it came back. So if I know where it is, no one can use it against me anymore!" Brian's shoulders tensed up as he curled in on himself. He couldn't meet Alex's eyes anymore. The secret was out, and all that was left to do was wait for Alex's undoubtedly furious response.

Except Alex wasn't yelling. He wasn't shaking him, or hitting him or anything like that. Brian chanced a look up at him, just in time to see the top of Alex's head coming at him. He tensed for a moment, only to feel the taller man's forehead drop against his shoulder. The grip on his shirt went slack as Alex slumped against him.

"Alex...?"

"...I got a package too." It was hard to hear him, the reply muffled against Brian's shirt. 

The blonde frowned in concern. "What was in it?" Alex didn't have a mask like he or Tim, so what could this person have had to send to him? 

"Amy's necklace. One I gave her before...all that. When I thought I'd escaped and we were safe..."

A quick glance at the hand still curled loose on his collar showed the necklace charm, chain wrapped a few times around Alex's wrist as a makeshift bracelet. Come to think about it, he had started wearing it right after Christmas, and he hadn't really taken it off. 

Brian felt a lump in his throat. For all that he'd been worried about how Alex would react to him keeping the mask close, he was doing the same with the necklace. He reached up, arms wrapping around his friend's taller shoulders. Alex deflated, sitting on Brian's legs and slumping against him and Brian felt like crying.

"Sorry...I just didn't want to upset you. I thought if you saw it, you'd think I was gonna go all Hoodie on you all again..."

Another muffled reply, this time he could barely make out a snort. "Just...don't do that. That stupid mask is the dumbest thing I've ever seen."

That shocked a little laugh out of him, most of the anxiety and worry knocked out of him with the return of their usual banter. "That's why I was an actor, not a costume designer."

Brian hummed as a way of reply, arms tightening around him. 

And that was how Tim found them later, when he finally got tired of calling for Brian and for Alex who had gone after Brian. He stood in the doorway, looking at his two idiot friends who'd fallen asleep cuddling each other on the floor, and he rolled his eyes, shutting the door behind him as he left the room, leaving them in the dark room to their peace and quiet. Brian would later complain that his legs were asleep, and Alex would deny the whole thing ever happened, but it didn't bother any of them. 

The black fabric mask with its red frown face stayed on the floor of the room.


End file.
